Yet another Chinese phone-maker Meizu is all geared to venture into the Indian smartphone market today with the release of M1 Note priced at 10,000.

This Alibaba-backed Chinese handset might give a stiff competition to other cheaper Chinese smartphones which provide features akin to the top smartphones brands. There is no word on the official launch date of M1 Note. But, J.Wong, the founder and chief executive officer of Meizu, tweeted, “Are you OK? 5.18 see! see!”

Following this, Meizu India tweeted, “We’ve heard you here is the date #0518”. So May 18, it is!

M1 Note has a 5.5-inch display, 2GB RAM and runs on Android KitKat with its exclusive Flyme 4 skin. The phone sports a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera and is backed up with 3,140 mAh battery. It runs on 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6752 processor and weights 145 gms.

The phone resembles slightly resembles iPhone 5C and will be available in five shades; light green, sky blue, bubble-gum pink, yellow and white.

Meizu m1 Note Launched today in India

Headquartered in Zhuhai, China, Meizu was established in 2003. It expanded into the smartphone market in 2008 and has more than 1,000 employees. The company also has its presence in Hong Kong, Israel, Russia and Ukraine.

In February this year, eCommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding picked up stake in Meizu for about USD 590 million. There are reports that Alibaba is in discussions to buy stake in homegrown handset maker, Micromax.

It will be interesting to see how M1 Note fairs in Indian market where Chinese handset makers such Gionee, Huawei and Lenovo rule the roost.

Indian and Chinese companies like Mircomax, Inter, Lava and Gionee are growing successfully in the country. Furthermore, the Indian smartphone market is taking long strides as the shipments are expected to be 80.5 million units this year.

Other Chinese phones Phicomm and Coolpad are expected to be launched in the coming months.